The Message, March 3, 2024: "Striving for Perfection," Psalm 19
Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
March 05, 2024
“Striving for Perfection”
A Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
Psalm 19
Are there any other perfectionists
here with us this morning? It is not an easy life, is it? I mean … we have
plenty of good days, but every once and a while, we can struggle.
A
long, long time ago, when I was in high school, my school district gave
students the opportunity to take classes that taught us life skills. We could
take sewing, cooking, typing, drafting, and wood shop. I chose to take one
semester each of sewing, cooking, drafting and woodshop. Obviously, in a
handful of weeks, they could not really go into too much depth with their
instruction.
I
did fine with cooking, I was okay at sewing, and I was surprisingly good at drafting.
Wood shop, on the other hand, gave me fits. We did not actually build anything
in wood shop. They gave us two patterns … a rabbit and a fish. We could choose
one, trace it onto the wood, cut it out, sand it, stain it and varnish it. It
was springtime, so I chose the rabbit.
The
problem with rabbits is that they have two ears. I traced the pattern, cut it
out, and began sanding. I noticed that one ear was larger than the other, so I
sanded the larger one down. Then … as you might have guessed … the other ear
was now larger. So, I sanded the other ear. Back and forth I went until the
ears were much too small in comparison to the rest of the body, so I tried
shrinking the whole thing down. It got smaller and smaller and smaller … until
I threw it away and started over.
That
time I grabbed the fish pattern.
You
may recall my list of jobs from the Children’s Message last week. I can assure
you that woodworking and carpentry were NOT on the list.
Even
as easy as the shop instructor tried to make the assignment for us, I still
struggled.
Two
weeks ago, my message focused upon Psalm 25, and David’s appeal to God to
instruct him on the Way. David knew that he had struggled in his life, he had
strayed from God’s Way, and he implored God to help him.
In
this morning’s psalm, we once again encounter David in his relationship with
God. Psalm 19 is considered to be an instructional psalm. It is included in the
section of “Royal Psalms,” and it describes the orientation to life that
faithful kings were supposed to embody and model for their people.
In
the psalm, David lifted up the three great gifts from God: Creation or life,
Torah, or the Law, and grace.
All
Creation declares the Glory of God. “Glory” is the outward “clothing” of God,
it reveals God. The heavens, the skies, day and night, the mountains and the
seas … all Creation reveal God’s greatness and God’s power.
There
were cultures in the Ancient Near East that worshipped the sun, worshipped the
stars, and worshipped other parts of the creation. But David was proclaiming
that Yahweh God is greater than all of that. God CREATED the heavens, the sun
and the stars. God CREATED the day and the night. Yahweh is greater than that
which Yahweh creates. Yahweh is great and greatly to be praised.
God
created the paths and patterns that the sun and the stars travel. And just like
the pattern that my shop instructor attempted to give me … God gave us a
pattern to travel as well. God gave us Torah, the Law. Some people may recoil
at the use of the word “law,” but the proper translation of the word “Torah” is
“instruction.” God’s instruction is the pattern and the path that we are to
travel.
If
you were to pull out your phones right now and Google “The Law of God” you would
get hundreds of hits. You would see things like “Is the Law of God the same as
the Ten Commandments?” “What is the Law of God?” “Do we still need to follow
the Old Testament?” and so on. How can we possibly know what path or pattern to
follow when there are so many people and preachers, churches and websites, and schools
of thought competing to ‘show us the Way’? Who are we to believe?
At
this point we can consider what Jesus had to say on the matter. Jesus clearly
stated that he did not come to replace the Law, but rather to fulfill the Law.
And when he was asked by the Pharisees, “What is the greatest commandment?” He
responded with the passage from scripture that every faithful Jew recites
daily, “Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5 … the Shema. The words that are
on their doorposts and in their hearts and uttered daily.
And then as we know, Jesus added, “This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it, ‘you shall love your neighbors as yourself.’ All the
law and the prophets hang upon these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
The
first was the instruction that David knew; that and the Ten Commandments. All
the other laws, restrictions, prohibitions originated there. But that was the
greatest commandment, and as we heard it is perfect. It revives the soul. It
gives life. It gives joy. It opens the eyes and expands the mind. It is pure
and unspoiled. Love God with all that you are, and you will follow God’s path.
The
Torah, the Instruction of God, is not some mechanistic, onerous system of
reward and punishment. It is not a prison that holds us and kills the life
within us. Rather, keeping Torah … following the instruction of God … consists
of connecting with the True Source of Life … God. The Instruction of God is
all-encompassing. It gives life and it restores life. It is not a burden. It is
a joy! It is more precious than gold and it is more desirable than the sweetest
honey.
However,
even as easy as Jesus made it for us, even as helpful as it was to take all of
the hundreds of rules and regulations and offer them as the two greatest
commandments, it can still be a struggle for us. “Love God. Love your
neighbor.” Just five words, but they can be difficult to practice.
We
are only human after all. We stumble, we struggle, we fall. We have our good
days, but we also have our bad days. We want to be better. We want to be
perfect. Will God accept almost perfect? The so so? The close enough? Will God
accept righteousness light?
That
is why we are so grateful to God for that third gift … grace. Grace is also
soul reviving, soul refreshing. Grace is life giving.
We
do not want to disappoint God. We want to be good. We try to be good. We may
try to sand down the edges, but sometimes we fail. Sometimes we hurt others.
Sometimes we hurt ourselves.
We
thank God for grace. God does not condemn us. God forgives. God releases us
from the shackles of our shame and guilt and offers us new life.
We
are about halfway through our Lenten journey. We still have time to linger with
Jesus as we walk together. We still have time to consider that to which he
calls us … to live lives of love.
May
the concluding verse of the psalm remain with us: “May the words of our
mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, our rock
and our redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)
May
the things that we think, and say, and do proclaim and reveal God’s glory for
all the world.
And
may we love … love … and love some more. Amen.
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